A young man walked into the restaurant, watching as the staff began to leave. All finished their drinks, saying goodbye to the animatronics. The final night had passed, the animatronics would be disposed of today. A sigh escaped his lips, and he looked to the back room, where all the animatronics sat, looking at him.
"I'm sorry, but we can't afford to keep this place open anymore. As of today, Freddy Fazbear is no more. You're going to be taken to a junkyward to be melted down." The man walked up, patting the closest Freddy Fazbear once, giving a sad smile. Memories of his past swum, and he felt bittersweet tears escape.
"Oh," he spoke, watching as a creaky hand tried to wipe away the tear. Shaking his head, the guy stepped back. A moment passed, and a desperate look crossed his face. Turning, the young man covered his face, fleeing the establishment. Slowly, the staff left, and there was a click as the door was locked.
'Don't worry, you won't feel a thing. The bullet didn't hurt right?'
'Don't you worry about me, you make sure you aim for heaven. You deserve it, despite what happened.'
'Sleep, it will be over by the time you wake'
Mike Schmidt watched as the animatronics powered down, and the Puppet became lifeless. If he had the power to smile, he would have. Age had matured them long before his death, but they were still kids. He had no doubts they would reach the heavens. After all, everything that had happened had never been their fault.
Time passed too quickly, and soon enough the truck came to chuck them into it like garbage. Mike was at the bottom, and unable to see where they were going. Soon enough, they arrived, and were dumped into a trailer, and carted toward a scrap heap. Now on the top, Mike got his first look at the sky in years, and he let himself relax.
It was time to go.
Tossed into a metal cube, he watched as the machine whirred to life. Screeching was heard as the metal lid began to head toward them. Slowly, the walls inched closer and closer, and Mike felt his body begin to get crushed. It wasn't until the force began to exert on his head, however, that he felt it. Almost as if it was his ears popping, he was suddenly above the crusher, the other animatronics, now simply kids, hanging limp beside him.
They began to rise, heading toward the clouds. Higher and higher, like a balloon reaching for the heavens. Passing through clouds, they seemed to be heading toward the very sun itself. A hopeful smile on his face, Mike looked down to his normal, human hand, and knew that they had been blessed by good fortune, finally.
Of course, this was the very moment that Mike and co were slammed to a halt, waking the kids up. Mike found himself laying down on a invisible surface, and slowly rose to his feet as the kids did the same. Glancing toward them, Mike watched as they crowded around, finding comfort in his presence.
"Wonderful view, is it not?" The voice, that voice, Mike knew it anywhere. He pivoted, glaring to the two. Somehow, they had fashioned seats from the clouds, sitting on them like they weren't just water. After a moment, they leapt off, coming to stand on the same strange platform Mike was on. The kids gasped, and hid behind Mike, stripped of their strong animatronic bodies.
"Relax, I wouldn't do anything to you if I could. That would only get me sent down there." Pointing below, Fritz Smith seemed to be motioning toward the world slowly turning below them. Glancing down, Mike was confused, and Fritz sighed, shrugging to Jeremy, who rubbed his arm nervously.
"Uh, we're in Purgatory Mike. Between heaven and hell." As Jeremy spoke, Mike wondered if something had changed. Memory sparking, he wondered if the injury to the frontal lobe Fritz had received had been healed. It looked like Jeremy's bullet hole was gone, and Mike was human once more, so it was possible. Jeremy frowned, confused by his stare, Mike shook it off, and folded his arms.
"So, why are you in Purgatory instead of down there then Fritz." Mike glared at the phone guy, who gave another sigh, folding his cloud newspaper and putting his cloud coffee cup on the cloud table.
"That'd be because of you Mike, you and those rotten kids. You see, those upstairs apparently don't know how to judge you and I." Shrugging, Fritz took a step closer, but stopped when Mike growled, stepping between him and the kids. Jeremy looked between them, almost an on-looker.
"You see Mike, you are all guilty of heinous crimes, just as I. And you are also not entirely responsible for your crimes, just as I." Hearing this, Mike began to laugh at Fritz's words.
"Not responsible? Fritz you can't seriously tell me you weren't entirely in control of yourself when you murdered these poor children." Glaring, Mike was surprised as Fritz merely shrugged in response.
"Apparently they think I have some sort of brain disorder. If it keeps me from eternal torment, who am I to say no?" Glancing to Jeremy, Fritz nodded toward him. Gritting his teeth in anger, Mike wanted to murder Fritz, no matter what the outcome. How dare he claim ignorance after his actions!
"So, you understand their pickle, you see. I guess that's why they gave me this before heading back up to who-knows-where." Pulling out what appeared to be a flier, Fritz flicked it to Mike, who caught it and looked down at it. Glancing up, he watched the two return to their cloud-couch to watch cloud-tv. Looking back to the flier again, he began to read it.
"Welcome Sir or Madam to Purgatory. We understand that you are here due to various reasons, however you are in luck! Both Heaven and Hell have come to an agreement to give you a chance to prove your innocence and/or guilt? Fritz, what the hell is this?" Mike crunched it up, turning angrily to Fritz as he munched cloudcorn.
"*crunch* Mmn, it's simple Mike; You prove I was the reason the kids died, and not my 'disability', and I go to hell. Fail, and we all take a dive down to the underworld for eternal torture for our crimes. That includes the little toddlers behind you." Taking another bite, Fritz beamed a cheerful smile, aggravating Mike even further.
"And how exactly am I supposed to prove that?" The entire situation would have seemed far-fetched had Mike not spent 10 years as an animatronic. As such, the kids clutched his pants, and he glanced down at them, their fear at what was below them evident. His heart panged, and he looked toward Fritz once more.
"Jeez Mike, do you even read? The flier clearly states you go back in time as me, and rewrite history up until this point. Course it likely won't be a real rewrite, once this point is reached you'll all be brought back here, win or lose; kill or not kill; murder or-"
"I get it already!" Growling, Mike put a hand to his forehead as Fritz chuckled, shaking his head. Thinking it over, Mike opened the crumpled flier to read it. There were a list of rules, one of them being not to kill himself. Another one stated that they may choose to rewrite history if they deemed it worthy.
"This entire thing just lists the rules. It doesn't say how, or even why they decided to do this. And what's this rule about 'might'? Wouldn't a future in which the kids get to grow up normally be better than one where they die?" Confused, Mike could only watch as Fritz raised his head, and laughed to the sky.
"Oh naive Mike, that's assuming you do a better job than I did." Laughing, Fritz shook his head, and took another bite of his cloudcorn.
"And what about you? What about my brother?" Looking to the flier, Mike scrunched it up again, glancing toward the kids. While he wanted to help the kids, his brother had finally fulfilled his dream.
"Page 3, you really need to read it fully. Relax, we've got the rest of eternity here if you decide not to accept or deny it." Munching his popcorn, Fritz seemed completely at ease. Taken aback slightly, Mike opened it, and sat down so the kids could read it with him. They deserved to have a say, after all.
"So if I accept it; I take your place while you stay here, a Mike clone becomes me, and everyone else returns but with their memories taken?" Looking up, he waited as Fritz swallowed another handful of cloudcorn. A nod followed another hand of popcorn, and he turned toward the kids.
"So, I was wrong, and I'm sorry about that. But our choice aren't looking good. Either we stay here for eternity, accept eternal punishment, which isn't an option, or we risk it all for the chance to maybe rewrite history, and go to heaven. It's up to you, as I don't care about my fate." Mike waited patiently as they looked at eachother, and then smiled. Turning, they all gave him a nod, and he nodded once in return.
Mike stood up, and turned, seeing Fritz smiling at him.
"I accept the deal," he spoke, and felt the platform vanish from underneath him. A hand gripped his, and he looked up at Fritz as the guy winked.
"Here's a tip; the rules say you lose if you kill a human. They say nothing about killing animals." With that said, Fritz released Mike, who fell toward the world. Watching as the ground rushed to meet him, he subconsciously braced himself. There was a jerking motion in his entire body, and he suddenly found himself blinking his eyes open in an entirely different body. Looking down, he saw his hands, and realised two things. One: He was a child.
Two: He was playing in the bloody remains of a squirrel.